THE TOP SEED: I think the worst thing that happened to the rest of this field is Westfield's loss on Sunday to Cranford in the semis of the Union County Tournament. I would expect this talented group to play with a little edge in pursuit of a championship to stamp its sensational season. It will come after teams with speed in the form of junior Katie Ponce
Mark Dye/For The Star-LedgerKatie Ponce (2) of Westfield is quick and productive out of the midfield. in the midfield and Amanda Markowski up top. Junior Hannah Kronnick is a reliable and rugged fixture in the offense and classmate Sam Costello knows what it takes to put a ball in the back of the net. Senior Grace MacKenzie is such a physical force in the midfield and simply dominant in the air while the defense of Julia Spiridigliozzi, Katie Esler, who happens to be a long throw specialist, and Becca Kape is a tough unit to crack. Factor in two quality keepers in Meg Brody and Gaby Gold and you can begin to visualize why Westfield is the favorite here.

STABLE FOR DARKHORSES: When I look at this section, I note how you can build cases for a number of the lower-seeded teams to make noise here. For example, take Watchung Hills. For the first 11 days of the season, the Somerset County team resembled that of an eight-seed, going 0-3-1 to open the year. While its middle-of-the-pack seed can be traced to the slow start, Watchung Hills has looked like anything but mediocre for the last month. It's gone 10-2 since and has an accomplished scorer in dazzling junior Daphne Corboz.

Another is fifth-seeded Hunterdon Central, which, like Watchungs Hills, overcame early struggles to find its groove.

And, what about Franklin? Go ahead and base a judgement off its 9-10-1 record, it would encourage you to because it's fully capable of stinging any team in this field that understimates it. Krystyna Freda, Nadine Goerke and Ale Fantuzzi spend an entire season honing their offensive tools against teams like Pingry, Montgomery, Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan and should sharp for the state tournament.

And what of seventh-seeded Piscataway? If you weren't taking them seriously prior to this week, the Chiefs probably got your attention this week. If not, you better scramble to do some research. A young Piscatway team which features a number of freshmen in significant roles, defeated Old Bridge in the semis of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament before taking East Brunswick into overtime, where it bowed, 1-0, on a golden goal. Dajia Griffin, a dangerous goal producer, and keeper Kristyn Shea are two of the freshmen making big impacts.

FIT TO BE....:When last they met, Bridgewater-Raritan and Hillsborough played to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 8. Which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Bridgewater (9-4-5) and Hillsborough (4-8-4) have cornered the market on draws but there won't be any this time, where shootouts are used to decide who moves on. Bridgewater owns a 4-0-1 mark against Hillsborough over the last five encounters dating back to 2007.

NOT YOU AGAIN: North Hunterdon will get another chance to solve Hunterdon Central, which scored two regular-season victories against it, in the first round. Hunterdon Central has reserved its best soccer for the second half of the season, going 10-1-2 over the last 13 outings and has an influential player in talented Cora Littlejohns. North Hunterdon, once 2-5-1, has rallied to 6-8-1 and should be quite familiar with what to expect from its nearby rival and up for the challenge.

BREAKOUT SEASON: At this stage, the frontrunner in this department is Columbia. A year removed from a 2-10-5 showing, the Maplewood team, which is sparked by Olivia Sohr, Tuerre Chisholm-Thomas, Megan Matthews, Olivia Mangan and keeper Amy French, has fashioned an 8-3-4 mark with nine shutouts to its credit.